


The Things Queenie Hears

by mysteriousphoenix



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: First Meetings, Friendship, Gen, Legilimency (Harry Potter), Missing Moments
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:49:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27929290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mysteriousphoenix/pseuds/mysteriousphoenix
Summary: A little story for the #FOURtasticBeasts2020 event.Queenie listens to the thoughts of her older sister and the two strangers she brought home with her this evening. Something is special about these two.A little Queenie insight into the evening of December 6, 1926.
Relationships: Queenie Goldstein & Jacob Kowalski, Queenie Goldstein & Newt Scamander, Queenie Goldstein & Tina Goldstein, Queenie Goldstein/Jacob Kowalski, Tina Goldstein/Newt Scamander
Comments: 8
Kudos: 61
Collections: Fourtastic Beasts 2020 #FourtasticBeasts2020





	1. Chapter 1

Queenie Goldstein wanted to be a typical American girl. She often wished she could be. However, Queenie was not typical, she was far from it. The ability to read minds could really affect day-to-day life, as she was well aware by this point. At the age of 23, Queenie had heard things that could make you cringe, make you cry, or make your heart sing with joy. She carried secrets with her that she could not and would not ever tell. She knew the darkest parts of people and had to carry on as if she knew nothing about their inner struggles or prejudices. Her gift, as her mother had called it, was both a blessing and a curse.

Promising at a young age to keep others’ private thoughts to herself, Queenie had dealt with things she had heard on her own. She projected a bubbly and carefree persona, but inside she was reeling. She practiced compartmentalizing her thoughts and the thoughts of those around her, wishing she had never been born with such an abnormality. Because she was abnormal, even in the wizarding world, and she hated it.

Walking down the street that morning, she had heard the thoughts of a former soldier who had awoken from a terrible nightmare again. The images flashed across the forefront of his mind as he ambled to work. She passed a young woman who was struggling with a newly-discovered pregnancy and was terrified to tell her parents. She passed the owner of a jewelry store as he unlocked the outer door of his shop. They had only days to turn things around or they might have to close their doors for good. He was pleading to God for a miracle, praying and wishing over and over again as he opened the door.

After the day she had, she needed this little respite. Tina was still working and it was quiet. She could hear whispers of thoughts from the neighbors, but nothing too demanding, and she could tune them out. She flicked her wand at the old wireless and the small apartment filled with the sounds of light jazz. Setting to the task of creating sweet dough for dessert, she poured the ingredients into the bowl and set it to mix.

She began humming to herself as she pulled her sewing supplies off the shelf and set up her station. Queenie needed this bit of menial housework right now. For once, she was glad that her sister was still at work. Feeling slightly guilty for the thought, she dragged her dress form across the floor and planted it next to her, draping her recently acquired dress over the bust, the skirt swinging free below. It was a pretty dress in a deep blue satin. It had a deep-V front and string accents across the bust and over the shoulders. It had been ripped and was being sold in a muggle shop for a deep discount. She had snatched it up, the opportunity was far too good to pass up.

Ripping her purple, cotton dress over her head, she tossed it toward the clothes hamper in the corner. She was left in only her pink, satin slip. _My favorite_ , she thought as she fingered the black lace detailing. It had been a splurge, but one that Queenie considered to be worth the investment. She tossed her dressing gown over her shoulders and tugged it around her to ward off the chill that hung in the drafty bedroom. Picking her wand up off the table, she began directing pins to hold the rip that stretched several inches along the hem between the skirt and the bodice. The dress would be perfect with the slip she was wearing, she could tell, and Queenie was excited to try it on once she was finished.

She tossed the light pink tablecloth over the ironing board and set the iron to do its job. Once again, she was thankful for her knack for domestic, household spells, one of the few areas in which she was far more talented than her older sister. Her eyes narrowed as she set to work, the therapeutic motion of the tiny thread sliding back and forth through the folds of fabric as she directed with her wand was calming, and Queenie found herself humming along to the music and enjoying herself for the first time in several days. She was relaxing, she felt the muscles in her back start to unclench and she rolled her neck to the side, feeling a satisfying _pop_. She found that time passed quickly this way, so she wasn’t sure if it had been minutes or an hour when she heard the familiar thoughts of her sister approaching.

Swinging her eyes to the clock on the shelf, she saw that it was nearly 6:00. She would need to start supper soon, she could already hear that Tina’s mind was reeling more than usual, her mind a jumbled, angry mess. That meant that she would be flustered and in need of a good meal and some time to vent her frustrations. It had been happening a lot lately since she had been demoted.

Queenie flicked her wrist with a small flourish as the tiny thread knotted itself and the skirt settled. Perfect. She tugged the fabric to check that the thread was holding and then stepped back to admire her work. She liked it. She pulled a tape measure out of the box at her side and measured the sleeves. She could get these done tonight and wear the dress tomorrow. It would be nice to wear something nice and new to work. 

It was then that she heard voices. Other voices, new voices, _male_ voices. _What on Earth?_ With a flick of her wand, the needle began sewing of its own accord and she walked around the bust to the doorway of the shared bedroom, watching as two men she had never seen before tumbled through her door, Tina right behind them. Thoughts filled the room and Queenie began plucking them out of the space one at a time. Her sister’s thoughts were by far the loudest and most familiar, but the others swirled around her. Fear, confusion, anger, worry...

Tilting her head, she watched as Tina shut the door behind them, and the two men turned around to survey the space. She felt their emotions envelop her and she couldn’t help herself, she had to know why there were two strange men in their women’s only apartment, escorted in by her law-abiding sister. “Teenie, you brought men home…” she said evenly, trying to hide a smirk as her sister looked at her, _“Sweet Morrigan, I’m going to hurt this idiot,”_ flitting across Tina’s mind. She had obviously had a very trying day.

It was then that the shorter of the two men saw her. _“My God, she is absolutely beautiful. Stunning.”_ He stared at her, his eyes connecting with her own. A moment passed as Tina spoke, and Queenie bit her lip as she watched him. Most men, when they saw her for the first time, would think lewd, sexual, or even downright disgusting thoughts. She was well aware that she was attractive, her curvy figure was one that was often coveted by men and Queenie was used to it. She could never let her disgust show. As far as anybody knew, she couldn’t hear their thoughts. But this man...he was different. To him, she was beautiful, not a prize to be won. There was something different about him, and she wanted to know him. She could feel it. She just... _knew._

“Gentlemen, this is my sister…”


	2. Chapter 2

Dinner preparations were a way for Queenie to show off, her wand flew through the air in graceful arcs as food prepared and plated itself. Carrying a typical conversation with her sister as they maneuvered around the kitchen with practiced ease, the evening felt anything but normal. The no-maj, Jacob, his mind was a whirlwind of wonder the likes of which she had never heard before. Never in her life had she performed magic in the presence of someone who had never seen it.

_“How in the world did she do that?”_

_“Whoa...that’s amazing!”_

_“She is so graceful.”_

_“I must be dreamin’.”_

_“This smells divine and....the plates are flying through the air! What? How?”_

Jacob’s wide-eyed wonder kept a smile on her face and her wand-waving as she prepared a much larger and more extravagant meal than she normally would have for just her sister and herself. Tina smirked at her as she shook her head slightly, dipping a finger into the sauce on the stove and adding a dash of salt.

_“I know what you’re doing.”_

Queenie giggled softly as she began preparing the ingredients for dessert. It wasn’t only Tina’s thought that had made her laugh, though. Mr. Scamander was edging along the wall of the apartment toward the large wooden door. She kept her eyes on the food, but her mind was focused on his thoughts as he planned and attempted his escape. “Mr. Scamander, do you prefer pie or strudel?” The look of guilt tinged with disappointment flashed across his face and then was gone as he answered her. His mind was hard to read, his thoughts were jumbled and moved more quickly than most. When coupled with his accent, he was hard to understand, but his emotions were easy to read. He wore them on his sleeve. He felt deeply, and currently, he felt guilty and a bit scared. Frustrated.

_“Creatures… muggles… lost… trapped here… feeding… must get below… no-maj… billywig… beautiful… she is angry with me…”_

Glancing back toward her sister, she saw the typical Auror glare, one that their father had perfected and used when he was disappointed in their behavior. Her hand was on her hip and she was glaring at Mr. Scamander...Newt...with eyebrows raised. He shrunk back into the shadows as he answered Queenie’s question and she bit her lip to keep from smiling.

Throughout the dinner, Queenie carried on a conversation with Jacob. He was a baker, he was a likable but lonely person, and his mind was beautiful. The connection was one like she had never known before. His thoughts were like silk as they ran through her head, they were peaceful and kind. He was a good man, this Jacob, and she wanted to know him. She had never felt this kind of connection, this attraction, to someone so quickly.

This could be problematic. Why did he have to be a no-maj?

At her sides, Newt and Tina continued their frustrated thoughts. Newt continued to carry nervous energy, his mind focused on creatures. Queenie needed to ask her sister about that. She only knew this man was a criminal, but as far as she could tell, he didn’t have the thoughts to match the conviction. Tina was up to something, and somehow Jacob had been caught up in whatever issues she had with Newt.

_“He is just sitting there. I’m surprised he hasn’t made a run for it yet. He is so confusing.”_

_“I wish he would talk more.”_

_“I can’t believe he saw me with mustard on my face today. Oh, Morrigan…”_

_“His eyes are...green? Blue? They are very nice. He’s...no. No Tina.”_

What amused Queenie was that they seemed to have discovered, in the thirty minutes they had all been seated at the table, that the other was mildly attractive. She would definitely have to tease her older sister about that when they were finally alone, especially after the comment about flirting with Jacob. She hadn’t been flirting...much.

The end of the meal came abruptly as Jacob began to show signs of his sickness once more.

_“Creatures… Goldstein… murtlap… tonic… Kowalski… MACUSA… get away…”_

Announcing that they were going to turn in early, Mr. Scamander stood and awkwardly shuffled after Tina toward the bedroom. Their bedroom. Swinging her wand in an arc over her head, Queenie directed the plates and various dishes to begin cleaning themselves. She began the process of putting their small space back in order as Tina directed the men into their beds. 

_“Are they giving us their beds? I bet the pink one is Queenie’s. What is she reading? I...are the books magical too?!”_

Queenie grinned as she pulled down an old copper stockpot that had once belonged to their mother. She poured in milk and brought it to a boil as she finished directing the dishes. Tina joined her at the stove, pulling down the rest of the ingredients.

“Good idea,” she said as she measured out cocoa powder and sugar, whisking them into the milk. Queenie leaned over her and pulled down her secret ingredients, cinnamon and salt, adding a small amount of each to the mixture and watching as Tina finished whisking with a flourish and a grin toward her sister.

“Let’s get changed while these cool down a bit, then we can take them in.” Tina pulled down a ladle from the shelf and poured the mixture into four mismatched mugs, setting them on the counter. “I know that they will both still be awake, Mr. Kowalski is so keyed up after the day he’s had and Mr. Scamander is...well, I don’t know that he will sleep tonight with all those beasts on the run.”

_“How many are out there? How could he be so reckless?! The damage this could do, I don’t want him to get blamed for the explosions, but… What about the no-majs?”_

“What beasts?” Queenie asked, gathering her nightgown and robe, following Tina out the door toward the bathroom they shared with the other two apartments on this floor of the building.

“Oh, wait until you hear what he did in a no-maj bank today…”


	3. Chapter 3

“He likes you, ya know.” Queenie fluffed the pillow and tossed it at her sister who caught it easily, dropping it onto the old, tattered couch. Tina scoffed, puffing out a mouth full of air and looking up at her younger sister with her brow furrowed.

“What in the world? Queenie...”

“I’m serious! Teenie, he thinks you’re beautiful. I heard him-”

“Now, that’s quite enough, Queenie.” Tina pointed her finger at her sister and aimed her best no-nonsense look toward her, “I don’t wanna hear what Mr. Scamander was thinkin’. That’s not fair to him.”

_“There is no way he would think that…”_

“Teenie! He did. I heard him. He likes your eyes.” Queenie smiled as she remembered his thoughts earlier as he remembered his arrest, “And there was something about being shoved against a wall…”

“Queenie!”

“I’m just sayin’, you gots his attention, is all...”

Tina, who had noticeable color in her cheeks, spread out the woolen blanket with a snap and laid it over the rug in front of the fireplace. She sat down with a huff, hitting the pillows a little harder than she usually might to fluff them before laying down. “He is a _criminal_ , he broke the law.”

“Did he, though?”

“ _Yes!_ You know-”

“Ya know…” Queenie raised an eyebrow at her sister, looking down at her in her nest of blankets on the floor. She interrupted before Tina could make her excuses for the arrest. “I’m not so sure he did anything that you wouldn’t have done, _especially_ about something that you believe in. Something that matters more to you than the law.”

“I’m an Auror. There is very little that matters to me more than the law.”

“There was something a few months ago, wasn’t there?” Queenie eyed her sister as she pulled off her satin robe and slid between the blankets on the lumpy couch. “You gave up everything to help that Barebone boy.”

That’s different,” Tina said, her eyes narrowing, “Credence is a human being.”

“Yes, but maybe to Newt, his beasts mean more to him than the law. Not everything’s gotta be so black and white, ya know.”

Tina shook her head, flopping back into the pillows and turning her body, trying to find a comfortable position on the hard, wooden floor. She flicked her wand and the electric lights flickered out, leaving them in the soft, warm light from the fireplace.

“They’re animals. It’s not the same.”

“Maybe it’s not the same to _you_ ,” Queenie replied as she tucked her arm under her head and shifted her body under the blanket, trying to stay warm in the drafty apartment. “It might be to him, though.” Several silent beats went by before Queenie picked up a stray thought.

_“I thought I had a chance. Mr. Graves…”_

Queenie snorted in a very unladylike manner as she heard the thought. “There it is.” She sat up slightly, looking down at her sister in the firelight. “You thought you could bring in Mr. Scamander, show Mr. Graves that you saved the city, and he would make you an Auror again.”

“It’s not just that!” Tina said as she looked up at Queenie. “He destroyed a bank, broke into a vault, and then failed to obliviate a no-maj. He should have been locked up for that.”

“Maybe. But by the sounds of things, at least according to Jacob, I think a single creature got loose and he did everything he could to make things right. He didn’t ask for any of it.” Queenie shrugged. “I liked him. He’s a bit strange, but he has a kind mind. He’s good-mannered, not at all stuck-up or nothin’.”

“Well, either way, he was in the wrong.”

“Maybe he was. But you used him too, honey.”

Tina growled in frustration and turned her body away from her sister and toward the warmth of the fire. Her mind played over the eventful day, passing over images of the bank, the arrest, the trip to MACUSA, Mr. Graves’ disappointment, finding Mr. Kowalski, dinner, Newt’s eyes in the low light as they looked up at her own.

_“He’s really good looking, too…”_

Queenie giggled from her position on the couch and Tina rolled back over to look menacingly at her younger sister, the look only serving to make Queenie laugh harder, holding her stomach. 

“Oh...dry up, Queenie...”

She rolled back over and Queenie felt Tina’s occlumency shields go up. Maybe she had pushed a little far, but it had been years since she had been able to tease Tina about a guy. In fact, she hadn’t seen Tina with a guy since their Ilvermorny days. While Tina was flustered, Queenie was actually enjoying the light teasing. Tina needed it, she was so serious all the time.

Several minutes passed in silence before Tina sat up in her makeshift bed, her eyes darting around the dim room. “What was that?”

“Huh?”

“That...sound…” Tina looked first at their bedroom door, then toward the window. She jumped to her feet and raced to the frosted pane, throwing it open and sticking her head out into the icy air.

“Teenie!” Queenie ran over and joined her sister...there. She heard it too. It was a low, rumbling growl coming from somewhere nearby. It sounded like-- “Oh, no.”

Tina growled in frustration as she ran over to the bedroom, propriety be damned, and threw the door open. Queenie came up behind her sister who stood stunned in the doorway, her face bathed in the light from the lamp within. She looked absolutely defeated for just a moment before she sprang into action, summoning clothes with her wand and hastily beginning to dress right in the middle of the living room.

Queenie, who had known that Newt didn’t want to be there, had not thought that he would escape, nor that Jacob would go with him. She had liked Jacob very much, and now she worried that she might never see him again. She felt something drop in the pit of her stomach.

“But...we made em’ cocoa…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's that! I hope you enjoyed my little foray into Queenie's mind on that night that our favorite foursome met. Happy FOURtastic Beasts week, y'all! Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Should I write more Queenie or stick to Newt and Tina?
> 
> You guys are awesome. See you soon for Newtina Fandom Week!

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on Tumblr! [@themysteriousphoenix ](https://themysteriousphoenix.tumblr.com/)


End file.
